The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Dendranthema grandiflora and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Yoseattle.
The new Chrysanthemum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Salinas, Calif. and Fort Myers, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new potted Chrysanthemum cultivars with desirable inflorescence form and floret colors and good postproduction longevity.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross made by the Inventors in May, 1993, in Salinas, Calif., of a proprietary Chrysanthemum seedling selection identified as YB-4196 as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary Chrysanthemum seedling selection identified as YB-6496, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventors in December, 1996, as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Fort Myers, Fla. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form and floret colors and good postproduction longevity.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum by vegetative tip cuttings was first conducted in Fort Myers, Fla. in February, 1997. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Yoseattle has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Yoseattlexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Yoseattlexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Chrysanthemum:
1. Upright and uniformly mounded plant habit.
2. Vigorous growth habit.
3. Uniform flowering response.
4. Early flowering, eight-week response time.
5. Freely flowering.
6. Daisy-type inflorescences that are about 7.5 cm in diameter.
8. Intense red-colored ray florets that do not fade. Green disc florets develop slowly maintaining green coloration.
9. Can be grown as a natural spray-type.
10. Good postproduction longevity with inflorescences maintaining good substance and color for about three weeks in an interior environment.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum differ from plants of the Chrysanthemum cultivar, Rage, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,770, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum are more outwardly spreading than plants of the cultivar Rage.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum have larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Rage.
3. Disc floret color of the new Chrysanthemum maintains green coloration longer than disc florets of the cultivar Rage.
4. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flower about two or three days earlier than plants of the cultivar Rage.